Custom branding, customizations, and theming are some of the most important activities that every user considers before finalizing on a solution when it comes to organizational portals. SAP Enterprise Portal has strong theming and custom-branding capabilities about which users are all well aware. Recently, SAP has released its cloud-based portal, commonly known as SAP HANA Cloud Portal or just Cloud Portal.

However, do not mistake SAP HANA Cloud Portal for a replacement for the traditional SAP Enterprise Portal. You should not expect the theming and branding processes to be similar. Unlike in SAP Enterprise Portal, themes are developed in a programmable stylesheet language called Leaner Cascading Style Sheets (LESS). I explain the process of customizing pre-delivered themes for the benefit of portal developers working on SAP HANA Cloud Portal. You can also take the learning further to develop a custom theme.

SAP HANA Cloud Portal provides out-of-the-box theming and customization support. At this moment, there are seven standard themes available for the SAP HANA Cloud Portal. However, no theme editor is available at the moment and you must therefore understand how Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) and LESS work. It is important to have a good understanding of CSS concepts, which, in turn, helps you understand LESS.

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Ameya Pimpalgaonkar

Ameya Pimpalgaonkar is a senior SAP architect. He specializes in SAP Netweaver Portal, SAP BPM, BRM, MDM, and SAP Mobile. His interests include UI and front-end technologies, SAPUI5, Responsive Design, and integration of modern technologies with SAP UI. He has also worked on HTML5, CSS3, and jQuery. Ameya is also a certified usability analyst from HFI, USA.